1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to antennas, and more particularly to polypod antennas.
2. Brief Discussion of Related Art
An array antenna can include a number of transmitting/receiving elements. Tapering is preferably achieved by applying specific attenuation to sets of radiating elements. The attenuation applied to sets of radiating elements can have the effect of decreasing the sidelobes of the overall antenna. Typically, however, when the antenna is receiving a signal, the effect of tapering is still apparent and so the reception is non-uniform. This non-uniform reception is often detrimental to the receiving system and can cause a decrease in isolation on a beamformer network connected to the input of a phased array antenna. Therefore, it is beneficial and/or advantageous to taper transmission without tapering reception.